Projective Ecologies by Chris Reed

by Chris Reed

The past two decades have witnessed a resurgenceof ecological ideas and ecological thinkingin discussions of urbanism, society, culture,and design. The field of ecology has movedfrom classical determinism and a reductionistNewtonian concern with stability, certainty,and order in favor of more contemporaryunderstandings of dynamic systemic change andthe related phenomena of adaptability, resilience,and flexibility.But ecology is not simply a project of thenatural sciences. Researchers, theorists, socialcommentators, and designers have all usedecology as a broader idea or metaphor for a setof conditions and relationships with political,economic, and social implications.Projective Ecologies takes stock of the diversity ofcontemporary ecological research and theory--embracing Felix Guattari's broader definitionof ecology as at once environmental, social,and existential--and speculates on potentialpaths forward for design practices. Where areecological thinking and theory now? What docurrent trajectories of research suggest for futurepractice? How can advances in ecological researchand modeling, in social theory, and in digitalvisualization inform, with greater rigor, morerobust design thinking and practice?New original essays by Peter Del Tredici, Erle Ellis,Christopher Hight, Sanford Kwinter, Sean Lally,Nina-Marie Lister, Chris Reed, Jane WolffReprinted/excerpted essays by Robert Cook,David Fletcher, Richard T.T. Forman, C.S. Holling.With drawings by, Gross.MAX, James CornerField Operations, Sean Lally, Anuradha Mathurand Dilip DaCunha, OMA, Stoss LandscapeUrbanism, West 8.

Genres: Landscape Architecture, Architecture

Hardcover

First published July 1, 2013